The present invention relates, in general, to electronics, and more particularly, to methods of forming semiconductor devices and structure.
In the past, the electronics industry utilized various methods and structures to produce multi-phase power supply systems. A multi-phase power supply system typically divided a load of the power supply system into several regions. The power supply controller was also divided into a number of phases or channels. In some cases, each channel was assigned to a particular region of the load. A pulse width modulated (PWM) circuit provided a variable duty cycle signal to control the switching for each channel. All of the channels were summed together to generate a single output voltage. In order to regulate the output voltage, each phase generally had several control signals that were used to synchronize the operation of the channels. In some cases, the control signals were analog signals. These signals were routed from the PWM controller through the switch controllers and other regions of the power control system in order to provide the desired control signals. Often the areas through which the signals were routed were noisy and induced noise into the control signals which determinately affected the accuracy of the power supply system.
Another problem was the number of signals that are required. Typically, several control signals were routed from the PWM controller through the switch controllers and other regions of the power control system. Several more drive synchronization signals often ran from each PWM phase through the region. Such a large number of signals were difficult to build and increased the manufacturing costs of the system.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have a method of forming a power supply control system that minimizes the number of signal routed within the power supply system.
For simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements in the figures are not necessarily to scale, and the same reference numbers in different figures denote the same elements. Additionally, descriptions and details of well-known steps and elements are omitted for simplicity of the description.